AT&T U-verse deployment reaches 1M living units in Atlanta

AT&T's (NYSE: T) aggressive deployment of U-verse TV and data services in Atlanta has now reached the 1 million living unit mark.

To keep up with demand for U-verse IPTV and data services, AT&T has hired more technicians in both Atlanta and in various counties in Florida. In Atlanta alone, the service provider hired 90 new technicians who will support its U-verse TV, broadband and voice service suite.

Getting to the 1 million U-verse video subscriber milestone in Atlanta did not come without a fight, however.

After launching the service in Atlanta in December 2007, a market typically dominated by large cable operators such as Charter (Nasdaq: CHTR), AT&T won a big coup when the Georgia General Assembly passed the Consumer Choice for Television Act. The act was created to encourage new video players such as AT&T to invest in their last mile and core networks to deliver video services in Atlanta and other parts of the state that typically had no other choice for video besides the cable company.

U-verse continues to be a saving grace for AT&T's wireline segment. In Q2 2011, AT&T added 202,000 U-verse subscribers to reach 3.4 million in service.